Mentioning
the Unmentionable

Leviticus 18:22; 20:13-----Romans 1:18-32

Genesis 19:1-28

Two years
ago, on the same day when the Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia, finally agreed
to admit Blacks to full membership, a different drama was taking place at an
Episcopal Church in the central [Contra Costa] county area. Nothing appeared in
the papers about it. The issue at Plains Baptist Church was resolved far behind
the times, for a Christian consensus on race had long since emerged among the
churches.

The drama
in Walnut Creek was explosive, and still is by no means settled. Wise and
faithful believers differ sharply on the subject of sexuality, especially
homosexuality – and the Christian faith. At Walnut Creek, the official board
was in the process of telling the Bishop that (and I quote) “this parish can be
dismantled brick by brick before pastoral care will be extended to a member of
the church who is a known homosexual.” Actually, the homosexual had sometime
before been asked to leave the church. So irate and irrational was the rector
he quoted as screaming, “I want to kill him; I want to kill him.” At the
eucharist service one Sunday, he hurled communion wine at the gay member
saying, “Boy, you’re sick. You’d better leave me alone, or else.” That such an
event could take place illustrates how medieval some of our personal opinions
and church practices remain.

Ten years
ago, the subject of homosexuality was unmentionable, untouchable. But now it is
unavoidable, for it is at our doorstep. I would feel derelict in my
professional duty as a pastor, if I did not share my perspective as a pastor,
as a Christian, and as a human being. I am indebted to many persons ---
Biblical scholars, pastors, counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, and law
enforcement people --- for the refinement of my own conscience on the matter.

I have
talked with a number of pastors in our Northern California Conference who have
encountered problems related to this subject. One told me of a Senior in the
youth group who had a mysterious, suggestive encounter with his advisor; he is
afraid, and talks with his pastor about it. Another minister told me of his
church Board of Trustees having to make a decision on the Gay Caucus from one
of the Berkeley seminaries asking to use the church facilities for a meeting.
Another told of a wife who came to see him to talk about her discovery that her
husband, the father of her four children, is gay. Another told of a worried
father coming to talk to him, suspecting that his son is gay. Any one of these
instances can trigger all the old stereotypes and phobias, and can cause
individuals (and congregations) to react explosively, violently and with unkind
judgments; judgments which do not help any individual; judgments that compound
rather than relieve misery; judgments that evoke a behavior which utterly
betrays the spirit of Jesus, whose name we bear.

By
mentioning the unmentionable today, I am letting you know that as a pastor, I
cannot dodge this issue, and I am asking from you the good Christian grace that
fosters healing and promotes acceptance, not the judgmental whisper and sneer
that drives issues under the rug or back into the closet.

Dealing as
we are with such a highly charged, emotional theme makes it incumbent upon us
to be as loving and as intelligent as possible. Speaking straight from the
shoulder is all right, providing it originates a little higher up. Above all,
it is our directive in this place, to consider this subject, this issue, in the
context of the faith we profess as Christians. Those who are not or have not
committed themselves to the Christian faith have no obligation to consider it
by our standards --- but we do, or else our faith becomes a mockery, merely
ornamental and irrelevant.

Some may
protest, “why deal with it here? There are so many other concerns of greater
importance; so many people in the world whose basic human rights are
endangered, so many hungry people. Why in a church service should we focus on
sexual preference and bedroom habits?” Now, I can empathize with this. Ten
years ago it would have been improbable that such a subject would be discussed
in this place. But what was once an untouchable subject is now unavoidable. It
affects more people that we suspect. Dr. Paul Gebhard, head of the Institute
for Sex Research, commonly referred to as the Kinsey Institute, said, “When one
speaks of homosexuality, one is talking about millions of people, not
thousands, but millions of U.S. citizens.” Newsweek magazine put this figure at
20,000,000, about 9% of our population. I have been told by researchers that
about five of every one hundred persons in the U.S. are exclusively homosexual
throughout life, that one person in every three has had some homosexual
experience. So sheer numbers alone warrant our consideration of the issue.

In
addition, Christian theology, Biblical understanding and our attitudes and
practices in the church have helped to foster conditions of oppression which
lesbians and homosexuals face each day. Generally, we in the Christian churches
have proclaimed that homosexual acts are perverse, repugnant, sinful; that
homosexuality is a distortion, whatever its source or cause, regardless of the
power it may exert, must be resisted, and, if possible, rooted out. This
teaching both reflects and confirms the thinking of the heterosexual majority,
whose attitudes in turn create the context in which homosexuals live their
lives. So, it should not surprise us that gay people do not look to the church
for solace or support. And because of this situation of rejection prevails,
homosexuals are frequently abused, ridiculed, caricatured, subjected to social
exclusion and disdain. They are sometimes refused acceptance by their own
families, often they are frozen out of religious fellowship and denied pastoral
care. They are denied equal protection of their civil rights and equal access
to vocational opportunities. Fearing reprisals if known to be homosexuals, the
majority remain closeted, often suffering lives of loneliness and despair.

There are
so many things I cannot prevent or change --- earthquakes, cancer, death on the
highway… But here in this subject lies a virtual continent of opinion; a
landmass of tradition which we CAN change by using our minds and by making our
hearts available to the message and the Christian faith. I have not had to deal
with this matter personally, but in my acquaintance are pastors who have, and
who have shared with me their excruciating pain. The cruelty they have seen
compounded and perpetrated in the name of religious tradition caused them to
weep. I must confess that when our Conference faced this about five years ago,
I became very disturbed at some of the medieval attitudes and uninformed
opinions that were aired. I hope that daring to mention the unmentionable can
in some way reshape the climate, shift our attitudes, and stimulate the use of
our MINDS, not in the name of sexuality, but in the name of justice and love.

No one,
least of all myself, has a corner on wisdom, or a private line to the heart of
Almighty God, as some would lead us to believe. The fact that I speak my
conscience here, does not mean YOUR conscience must concur. I rejoice that our
life together is not defined by whether or not we agree, but IS defined by the
mutual regard we have for one another and our common commitment to love God and
to love our neighbor. No one is obligated to move further on this issue than
his or her conscience will permit. But if I am silent because of the opinions I
hold, my love for my church may well diminish, because I withhold the trust
that accompanies candor. Today I risk sharing some convictions on an explosive
subject, and I’m bold to do so because I trust you. I trust you to listen with
care; I trust you to distinguish between what I say and what I don’t say; I
trust you to listen with MINDS as well as with any biases that may have
accumulated. I trust you to ask for clarification where I am unclear, and to
realize that I am NOT saying you must agree with me.

I’m sure
that the situation would be helped and our prejudices combated if we had more
of a sense of history, if we could clearly see and feel the age-old oppression
of gay people. In nearly every society, in every civilization, in every age,
gay people have suffered terrible persecutions and oppression. In the medieval
period they were burned at the stake, and the little sticks they used for
firewood were called “faggots.” Today you can here that same word in the
schoolyards here in Antioch, even to the lower grades – and most of the little
ones don’t know what it means, according to the mother of one first-grader.

Throughout
history gays have suffered imprisonment, torture, mutilation, and death. In our
own time, in so many cities, they have difficulty finding apartments, writing
wills, keeping their own children in case of divorce. They are frozen out of
religious fellowships and denied pastoral care; they are denied equal
protection of their civil rights. They have been harassed by the police, and
have not only been haunted but HUNTED. I wonder if in recognizing this
oppression and persecution, our own prejudices cannot be lessened, for is it
not right that this heritage of torture should cease? Isn’t it about time we
took seriously the views of the medical establishment? In 1973, the American
Psychiatric Association voted to remove homosexuality from its list of mental
disorders, even as it did alcoholism 25 years earlier. It also recommended that
all laws against gay people be abolished as they were discriminatory. In
clarifying the matter, it said that homosexuality was different from
heterosexuality but no better and no worse. It represents NO impairment of the
personality, no lessening of ability.

Our
attitudes and policies are often based on the assumption that the gay person is
willfully, determinedly, rebelliously deciding on a lifestyle that he or she is
at liberty to choose. However, that assumption does NOT square with the facts.
Nearly all gay persons are unable to alter by choice their sexual orientation,
and the medical field admits that psychotherapy has been notoriously
unsuccessful at trying to do so.

I wonder if
the situation might be helped if we could consider about whom we are talking,
and by means of that consideration puncture the stereotypes that shape our
opinion. We are inclined to think that a gay mail is a person who works in a
beauty parlor by day and walks the Castro St. in San Francisco by night; that a
gay female is a large heavy-set woman who teaches weight-lifting at the YWCA.
But this is nonsense. It is not possible to recognize gay people by manner,
gesture, or appearance. There is not a trade or profession in which gay persons
are not present. They are workers, writers, ministers, philosophers, pro
football players, and political personalities that have become household words.

I also
wonder if the situation might not be helped if we recognized how the emphasis
is misplaced. It suffers from a certain exaggeration. The subject of a gay
lifestyle comes up and we’re outraged. I cannot think of anything more
abhorrent and unnatural than sex without consent. I found the fear and violence
on the San Jose State University campus much more unnatural and abhorrent than
the Homosexual lifestyle that sets off rockets in our dinner table
conversations.

Also,
consider the crime statistics. This was the big issue in Dade County, Florida.
The charge was and is that gay people are somehow a threat to young people in
the classroom. This too is an opinion that does not square with the facts.
Whether you look at local police, county police, or FBI records, it is very
clear that in proportion to their numbers, gay people commit far fewer crimes
than their heterosexual counterparts, I mean far fewer crimes of every sort. If
you consider sexual crimes, the contrast is more dramatic. If we were to hire people
in our public school systems on the basis of crime statistics, people like
Anita Bryant and myself would be among the last hired. For we heterosexuals
have the worst record. By ignoring this data, we perpetuate terrible myths
which add to oppression.

You see,
one response by the CHRISTIAN to this enormous issue is to get the facts
straight. There is so much we DON’T know about human sexuality. The Christian
tradition has a very poor record when it comes to understanding sexuality or
embracing it freely. The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the
shoreline of wonder, at how intricate the entire subject is. I sometimes wish I
could be as sure of anything, as some people seem to be of everything. Mark
Twain said, “It ain’t so much that folks don’t know, but it’s that they know so
much that ain’t so.”

As a
church, we hold to the centrality of Scripture as a reliable guide to faith and
life. So attention to the Bible and the Christian heritage is an obligation for
all of us who call ourselves ‘Christian’ and consider ourselves church people.
We are not at liberty to live out our biases, or parental programming or
childhood experiences. What we do and say has to square with our Biblical
heritage and Christian theology. On the subject of homosexuality, the Bible is
much LESS helpful than some of us would like to think.

At no
point, for example, does the Bible say anything about homosexuality as a sexual
orientation. The recognition of homosexuality as a psychic or psychological
orientation is quite recent. The Bible does refer to certain homosexual acts,
but it is crucial to keep in mind that in each instance these acts are presumed
to be undertaken by those who are heterosexually oriented, and are thus a
violation of their normal, fundamental, heterosexual nature.

There is
also an overpowering pro-creation bias among Biblical writers. Prosperity in
the town, success on the battlefield, survival in the fields, were all
dependent on large families. Any act which thwarted the conception of children
was frowned upon and condemned.

The
dramatic destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah with sulfur and fire from heaven, as
related in Genesis 19:1-28, has become a typical text used by churches to
support repressive laws against homosexuals. Fear that we would all perish in a
similar fashion if we allow such practices to go unpunished has led to brutal
treatment of homosexuals. This perspective is used by Anita Bryant to support
her preposterous theory about how the California drought was due to God’s
outrage over gay life in San Francisco. Would she also suggest that the rains
that came indicated God’s mind had changed? Biblical scholars and interpreters
severely challenge such use of Biblical texts. Contemporary studies
persuasively suggest that the major theme in the story is not homosexual
activity per se, “but the breach of ancient Hebrew hospitality norms and the
persistent violation of rudimentary social justice…”, that is, evil living in
general and idolatry in particular. In Genesis 19:5, we find the words “That we
may know them.” According to one Biblical scholar, Robert Treese, the Hebrew
word “yadha” (to know) in this passage is used only 10 times in the Old
Testament to donate sexual acts, always heterosexual, whereas it is used 941
times simply to denote “getting acquainted with.” While many Old Testament
references cite Sodom and Gomorrah as a proverbially wicked city, none cite
homosexual acts as the reason for this designation. Actually, Ezekiel cites
pride and refusal to aid the poor and needy as the reason for Sodom’s
destruction. A similar analysis happens when Paul’s passage in Romans is
examined carefully. Some critics see this text with its reference to lustful
passions as a condemnation of ANY exploitive sexual relationship which is based
only on self-gratification. And of course this condemnation comes down equally
hard on heterosexuals.

What happens when we look at the teachings of Jesus? Here
the crusader against gay rights is in deepest trouble. Jesus had nothing to say
about homosexuality, not one word. Clearly, Jesus was bothered more than
anything else by pious rule-makers and self-righteous judges. It is simple to
list the parables, the Sermon on the Mount, the encounters with Pharisees,
which illustrate the gospel of grace and forgiveness He incarnated. In Jesus’
encounter with the woman, according to John’s account, in no way did he condone
adultery. But what “ticked” Him off was the sneering condemnation and the
self-righteousness of the Pharisees. I do not see Jesus as naively permissive,
but it is clear that while condemning forthrightly when he saw it, He seemed to
reserve His wrath for all those who lived by rules and ignored (Matthew 23)
“the weightier matters of the law…justice, mercy, faithfulness.”

The Apostle
Paul’s distaste for the common Greek and Roman sexual practice is undoubtedly
sharpened by his strict upbringing in the Jewish law and traditions, with their
stern strictures concerning homosexuality. He also condemns homosexual acts
because he sees them as a natural result of false worship, and links this
practice with other activities which he observes in those who do not
acknowledge Jesus Christ (cf. I Cor. 6:9-10) and worship the one true God of
Israel.

It is very
strange that even though the GOOD HOUSEKEEPING magazine and a TV network ranked
Anita Bryant as one of the ten most admired women in 1977, the youth and young
adults, according to a different poll, placed her at the bottom of a list along
with Adolph Hitler. She is lovely, sincere and zealous, but she has polarized
the population, and mobilized hate and oppression. And she has done it in the
name of religion and with a Biblical interpretation that is medieval. By
enflaming national prejudice, fostering fear and hatred, and distorting
Scripture to her own ends, she falls under the same judgment she so handily
dispenses to others.

I am no
dreamy-eyed liberal in this matter. The acceptance, regard and liberty I think
gay people are entitled to, is not without limits. Promiscuity and idolatry in
gay life styles is on the same shaky ground as it is for heterosexuals. For any
of us to make sexuality the central organizing principle of our lives, which
American culture and media constantly seem to promote, makes us subject to the
judgment of idolatry. A Christian sexual ethnic emphasizes commitment and
trust, tenderness, respect for the other, and a desire for ongoing and
responsible communication. It mandates against selfish sex, casual sex,
impersonal sex, cruel sex, obsessive sex, prostitution, promiscuity, or any sex
in which there is no sense of full responsibility. Such an ethic is as
appropriate for the homosexual as it is for the heterosexual. Each is judged by
it, there is no double standard.

Contrary to
the American folk ethic, sexual freedom is not the goal of all living. You can
sell toothpaste and deodorants with that assumption, but it does not stand up
to Christian principles. As important as sexuality is, there are things that
are more important. Self-esteem is more important; survival as a race, as a
planet, is more important; peace is more important. And love is more important
than sex.

I believe
in love; not a naïve love, not a soft and weak love; but a full and mature
love, love such as was and is shown in Jesus whom I believe had a human as well
as a divine nature. I don’t think anything in society can ultimately prevail
over and against real love – not oppression, not hatred, not prejudice.
Sometimes it’s not easy to keep believing that, but I do. That’s why I’m in the
church. Love “bears all things”; as Paul says, “There is nothing love cannot
face; no limit to its faith, its hope, its endurance.” Many families need to
hear that and move closer to the state of being in which “there is no such
thing as (or no possible distinction between) Jew and Greek, slave and free,
male and female (Gal. 3:28).

God of all truth: save us from
cowardice that shrinks from new truth, laziness that is content with half-truth,
arrogance which thinks it possesses all truth; in the name of Him who is the
Way, the Life and the Truth which makes us free. AMEN.